…The Nefesh B’Nefesh official also credited programs like Birthright and Masa, who bring young people to visit Israel, with providing the sparks that ignite an increasing number of young, single Jews to make the move to Israel.

“Of the over 3,000 people who came last year – 1,000 of them were singles.” He noted that 65 percent of the singles were non-Orthodox – almost all of whom moved to Tel Aviv. He joked that the other 35 percent all moved to Jerusalem’s Baka neighborhood.

Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Eli Yishai (Shas) understands that cutting NII allotments would decrease the number of children in large families.

Indeed, the cut in child allotments has already led to a change in ultra-Orthodox society: More and more Haredim are going out to work these days, and there has also been a decline in the birthrate.

In the Haredi town of Betar Illit in the West Bank, the birthrate dropped from 8.9 children per woman in 2001 to 7.7 in 2006, while in Modi'in Illit, the birthrate dropped during those years from nine children per woman to eight.

Therefore, anyone who truly wants to decrease poverty must continue the policy of cutting the allotments, along with encouraging education and employment.

Anyone who is truly concerned about Haredi children must ensure that they study the "core curriculum" instead of fighting to eliminate it from their schools.

The moment they study science, mathematics, English and history, they will have the tools and ability to enter the labor market and earn well, exiting the cycle of poverty.

Tel Aviv's bar owners and caterers have come out fighting against a demand by the city's religious council that as a condition for being granted kashrut certificates they sign contracts raising the salaries of kashrut supervisors, reports Yediot Tel Aviv. Several bar owners questioned the legality of the contracts and said they would raise their costs significantly.

According to the report, Tel Aviv's kashrut supervisors are demanding that bar owners and caterers sign a contract agreeing to pay each supervisor NIS 100 per event plus NIS 50 for travel inside Tel Aviv, or NIS 130 per event plus NIS 100 for travel outside the city, as well as paying for other "social conditions."

One bar owner said that until now, he had simply paid NIS 37 per hour for kashrut supervision.

"This is completely absurd," the owner said. "It works out that we have to pay each supervisor a much greater salary, with various additions, and all at our expense. They are holding us [by the throat]."

The IDF is in the final stages of receiving municipal permits to build a new college-style campus on Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem that will house a school offering mandatory courses for military commanders in Jewish heritage and tradition.

The school will be home to the Education Corps's newly-established Mehzavim program, a Hebrew acronym for "Educational Military Leadership in Jerusalem."

The project was launched just under a year ago and is held monthly - one week for lieutenant colonels, one week for majors and another week for junior commanders.

Since its opening, close to 1,600 officers have been through the course, which is conducted in conjunction with the Jerusalem-based Hartman Institute.

Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai’s burial place on Mount Meron, near the northern Israeli city of Safed

Just who owns his grave and the surrounding area?

As revelers link arms and dance together, organizers will be locked in a bitter, ongoing behind-the scenes feud.

Shalvash’s Sephardic trust and a rival Ashkenazic one both claim full ownership of the site.

The row is “paralyzing” the development of the site, the most visited religious place in Israel after the Western Wall, according to Jerusalem lawyer Shmuel Berkovitch, an expert on Israel’s holy sites.

Academy Award winning actor Jon Voight is currently in Israel to express his fervent support for the Jewish people and his opposition to exchanging land for peace with the Palestinians.

On Tuesday, Voight visited Sderot, the western Negev town that suffers regular Qassam rockets strikes from the Gaza Strip. On Monday, he met with terror victims, and welcomed a group of children brought to Israel through Chabad's Children of Chernobyl program.

Voight is best known for his breakthrough role in Midnight Cowboy in 1969, and his parts in 1970s films including Deliverance and The Champ. These days however, he may be even better known for being the father of Angelina Jolie.

What do a Melkite Catholic priest, a Druze spiritual leader, a rabbi and a qadi enrolled in a law school have in common? At first glance, not much - besides the desire to get a law degree.

But over the past two years, a diverse classroom full of Israeli clergymen - Christian, Muslim, Druse and Jewish - at the Ono Academic College in Kiryat Ono have discovered that while they may not agree on issues of faith, they can still learn to like each other.

…Also, all the religious leaders have a common gripe against the secular legal system. Over the past decade, especially during Aharon Barak's stint as president of the Supreme Court, there has been a gradual weakening of powers held by the religious courts.

…The feeling of discrimination shared by the different religions vis-à-vis the secular Israeli legal system creates a feeling of unity.

Jerusalem's local planning and construction committee yesterday approved plans for the controversial Mugrabi bridge near the Temple Mount, intended to provide access to the Mugrabi Gate in lieu of the ramp that collapsed in 2004.

The plans are now in the hands of the district committee, which will meet in about a week to rediscuss objections by the Ir Amim nonprofit organization, Arab MKs, the Al-Aqsa foundation and archaeologist Meir Ben-Dov.

The plan entails building a raised ramp supported by several columns, and will enlarge the women's section at the Western Wall plaza.

The Tel Aviv Municipality has decided to try and put a stop to the wood pilfering plaguing the city's construction sites every year, around Lag B'Omer time.

In an attempt to try and avoid this year's firewood raid, the Tel Aviv Municipality announced Thursday that come Lag B'Omer day – next Thursday – it will operate three firewood distribution centers in the city.

…"We intend on transporting the mass quantities of lumber to three locations in the city, and anyone who needs firewood is welcome to come and get it."

In May of 2007, the Institute for Reform Zionism (IRZ), a small think tank run by ARZA, called for the creation of a concise definition of Reform Zionism.

What seemed at first glance to be a simple task quickly revealed its many levels of nuance and complexity. Instead of a succinct, clear definition, we decided to embrace the complexity and create a less brief, less succinct, but far more useful definition.

The initial definition was written by Rabbi Peter Knobel, Chair of the IRZ and a member of ARZA’s board.

[ARZA] then recruited six commentators to argue with Rabbi Knobel and with each other on the page, thus creating a document that is true to the ancient Jewish tradition of “machloket l’shem shamayim” or a dispute for the sake of Heaven.

The Tel Aviv District Court ruled Sunday that the state’s position on an appeal in the matter of assets belonging to the Waqf, the Muslim religious trust, will be held behind closed doors, without the presence of the appellants, because the information revealed might damage Israel’s foreign relations.

The appeal was submitted by the Jaffa Association for Human Rights and four activists in the Muslim community in Jaffa, against the Custodian for Absentee Property.

It demands that the Custodian provide them with an exact list of Waqf property in Tel Aviv-Jaffa and the rest of the country, and incomes from that property.

The posters were put up in protest against the decision to destroy a Muslim cemetery in Jaffa's Tel-Kabir neighborhood and build a commercial center in its stead.

A legal debate over the property has been going on for 35 years, ever since the board approved the sale of the cemetery's land to a private party.

Recently the High Court determined that the sale was legal, and demanded that the Waqf transfer the graves to another location. The verdict caused rage to break out among the Arab population in the area.

The government will hand over ownership of the Sergei Courtyard site on Heleni Hamalka Street in Jerusalem to the Russian government in July, following extensive discussions between the two governments.

The Sergei Courtyard is named after Sergei Alexandrovich, the heir apparent of Czar Nicholas II.

…Last week the Russian press reported that Vladimir Putin had allocated 10 million rubles (about $430,000) for the renovation and preservation of the Sergei Courtyard, and that the prime minister is coming to Israel in June or July to sign the final agreement.

Attorney Nurit Mazower-Rez, whose expertise includes real estate law and the Tenant Protection Law, claims that in recent years there has been an increase in suits against protected tenants by churches that purchased land in Jerusalem in the 19th century.

The Ethiopian church tried to evict protected tenants on Ethiopia Street, and the Greek Orthodox and Armenian churches have filed petitions against tenants on Shlomzion Hamalka and Yoel Solomon streets (the pedestrian mall), on Nevi'im St. and in the Old City.

…The awakening of the churches concerning their properties has aroused fears among Jewish tenants, who until now had enjoyed peace and quiet.

Some of the churches rent the properties at realistic prices to interested Jews, but others are considering bringing in foreign elements.

Thus, for example, it is still unclear what the Russian government will do with the Russian Compound, although it will probably be used for diplomatic or consular purposes.